Browsing by Subject "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    A Descriptive Mixed-Methods Examination of Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability, and HRD in the Access Economy
    (2021-04) Hart-Mrema, Tasha
    App-based companies have emerged as legitimate forms of business, giving way to gigs, odd jobs, and convenient access to goods, products, or services. As with all business, growth brings the need for socially responsible change. This study presents an original exploration of factors that underlie stakeholder perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the access economy (i.e. gig/sharing economy). The access economy is framed as a complex adaptive system and benefits of platform companies are discussed along with prevalent criticisms regarding worker classifications and unethical business practices. By utilizing a mixed methods survey, empirical evidence is provided that not only identifies a negative association between observed versus expected CSR in the access economy, but also provides insight on the need for four types of platform stakeholder responsibility. Although findings revealed that perceptions on accountability were spread across stakeholder groups, the overarching theme is that more accountability should be allocated to platform companies. The data support the idea that consumers expect platform companies to go beyond mere onboarding and to establish some form of worker protections in line with what would generally be expected from a more conventional business model. Opinions of platform accountability appear to be influenced by expectations associated with specific industries (e.g. transportation vs. tourism) and whether or not workers would have direct contact with consumers. Individual factors such as ethical ideology, risk aversion, desire for certain types of service attributes, and propensity toward social proof techniques are shown to be associated with perceptions of CSR. This study serves as a starting point for the field of HRD to enter the access economy.
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    Improving Sustainability Management Decisions with Modified Life Cycle Assessment Methods
    (2016-12) Pelton, Rylie
    Across the globe, organizations and institutions have publicly committed to reducing the environmental impacts associated with their operations. Despite these commitments, progress in integrating sustainability measurement information into core business processes and decision criteria has been limited. To avoid many of the ecological tipping points that society currently faces, it is essential that sustainability measurement systems and decision support tools are improved to be more practically incorporated into business operations and decisions. This dissertation explores the specific sustainability challenges and information gaps that are faced by core business operations in three separate case studies, thereby expanding the sustainability operations management literature in the areas of environmentally preferable procurement, sustainable manufacturing, and green supply chain management. Modified life cycle assessment (LCA) methods are demonstrated in the methodological designs of the respective case studies, which help reduce the complexity of environmental information and the costs of assessment, and increase the specificity to organizations by considering spatial and temporal aspects of operations. Altogether, methods enable optimal management options and trade-offs to be identified, priorities to be set, and increases overall understanding of and ability to manage risks. These elements greatly enhance the actionability of sustainability information to organizational decision makers, helping to lower the barriers for integrating into core organizational processes for reducing the environmental burden of production and consumption systems.